the ordinary city. ash amin, stephen graham. 1997

8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997

1/20

The Ordinary CityAuthor(s): Ash Amin and Stephen GrahamReviewed work(s):Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 22, No. 4 (1997),pp. 411-429

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2/20


3/20

412

AshAmin nd

Stephen

raham

elements tends to be lost.

Oscillationsbetween

dire

predictions

of urban

doom and

optimistic

portrayals

f an

urban renaissance ervefurthero

confuse.

This

paper

aims

to draw on recent trands of

urbanresearch nd debate to evaluate thespecific

assets that ities nd

metropolitan egionsprovide

in an

era

of

globalization.

n

the first

ection,

we

review the dimensions of

the recent

urban

re-

discovery';

we

then

go

on to

diagnose

some

key

analyticalproblems

within his

burgeoning

wave

of urban

research

nd

commentary.

ection

three

attempts

o

develop

a new

perspective

n the

city

based on the dea that

contemporary

rban ife s

founded n

the

'multiplexing'

f

diverse

conomic,

social,

cultural nd institutionalssets

which

may

not all come

together

n the

city.

he

implications

of thisperspective orurbanpolicyand thequest

for social and territorial

ustice

are

explored

in

section

four,

whilst the

concluding

comments

argue briefly

hat social

justice

makes economic

sense.

The

'rediscovery'

f the

city

Between

the

early

1960s

and

early

1980s,

many

strandsof

commentary

nd

research,

articularly

in

the

Anglo-Saxon

world,

anticipated

progres-

sive dissolutionor erosionof cities as advanced

transport

nd telecommunications

nfrastructures

released

economic,

social

and cultural activities

from he need

for

patial

propinquity

nd

metro-

politan

oncentration

Boden

and Molotch

994).

n

the scenario

of

Alvin Toffler's

1980)

influential

'third

wave',

for

xample,

urban

nhabitants ould

escape

to

the rural

dyll

to

live,

work and

interact

from an

'electronic

ottage'

tied

into advanced

telecommunications

rids.

Anthony

Pascal

(1987,

602)

extended

his

prediction

y

suggesting

hat

with he assage f imewill ome] patial egularity;

the

urban

ystem

onverges

n,

even

f never

uite

attains,

omplete

real

niformity.

To

Pascal,

cities would

progressively

vanish'

as

their

chief

raison

d'e^tre

face-to-face ontact

-

would become

substituted

y

electronic

etworks

and

spaces.

New

rural societies

would

emerge

s

people

exercised their

new freedom

o locate

in

small,

attractiveettlements

etter uited to

their

needs.

If

cities

did not

exist',

wrote the

futurists,

Naisbitt nd Aburdene

1991,

329),

it

would

not

now

be

necessary

o invent hem

..

truly

lobal

cities

will

not be the

largest, they

will be the

smartest'. Even Marshall McLuhan

(1964,

366)

believed

that he

emergence

f

the

global

village'

meant hat

he

city

as

a form f

major

dimensions

must inevitablydissolve like a fadingshot in a

movie'. Some

critical

heorists oo

have

posited

some wholesale

evaporation

of the

city

as

a

'special'

place.

Paul Virilio

1987,

18),

for

xample,

asserts that cities are now

'overexposed'

to new

communications

echnologies,

which

effectively

serve to

evaporate

their

place-based

relational

meaning

in

some

pervasive

shift o a universal

'technological

pace-time'

where

elsewhere

egins

here and vice versa'.

Almost

n

awe of

such

doom

scenarios,

etween

the

early

1960s

and

early

1980s,

the

traditional

disciplinesof urban studies- particularly rban

geography

nd

planning

tended o confine

hem-

selves

largely

with

mapping

and

measuringpro-

cesses of urban conomic

estructuring

especially

deindustrialization and

highlighting

he social

crises associated

with the

collapse

of

inner-city

employment

(see,

for

example,

Martin

and

Rowthorn

1986).

Urban

planning

and

policy

debates became concerned

with

finding

olutions

to

urban crises

McKay

and Cox

1979)

but

neither

tended

to move much

beyond

their

oundaries,

o

question

or

engage

in the broader debates about

thefuture f cities.

And

yet,

from his

position

on

the intellectual

margins

ust

fifteen

ears

go,

the

tudy

f

the

city,

the

spatiality

f

metropolitan

ife and the

policy

challenges

of

contemporary

rbanism

have

come

to

hold

a

powerfulposition

within

ontemporary

social and

policy

sciences.

A

growing

range

of

research

s

focusing

attention n

understanding

and

analysing

the

'urban'.

Post-structuralist

nd

postmodern

debates

within the

humanities,

ul-

tural

studies,

geography

and

sociology

have

emerged

which seek

to

explore

urban

landscapes

as key sites of representationnd symbolization

(Westwood

and

Williams

1996),

identity olitics

(Keith

and

Pile

1993),

collective

memory

Boyer

1994)

and

consumption

Ellin

1995).

Writers

uch

as

Jim

Collins

1995)

and Rob Shields

1992)

have

helped

to

debunk

the absolutist

nd deterministic

scenarios

f

urban doom

and

collapse

of

theurban

public

realm

previously

offered

y

the

likes of

Michael Sorkin

1992)

and Paul

Virilio

1987).

A

wide

range

of commentaries

ave reasserted

he

multi-dimensional

ature f the ocial

and cultural

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4/20

The

ordinary

ity

413

life of the

city.

Media theorists ave stressed

hat

the

city

s an

'imaginary

ignification'

ithin

the

visual mediatization

f

modern

ife;

that the

city

'exists round

us and

also

lives within s'

(Robins

1996,

130).

The

nature

fthe

city

s a

clashing oint

fordiversesubjectivities,thnicities,orporealities

and

spatialities

as been stressed

y

cultural

om-

mentators

nd

geographers

Pile

1996).

And urban

political

conomists

have

explored

how the

fabric

of urban life is

deeply

imbued with

struggles

between

commodifying roperty

ndustries

nd

growing

portions

of disenfranchised rban and

immigrant opulations

Zukin

1995).

Meanwhile,

debates

about urban

economic

development

ave drawn on

regulation heory

nd

notions

of

flexible

specialization

to assert

the

renewed

mportance

f Marshallianmilieux t the

urban and regional evel in supporting ompeti-

tive,

creative

production

Amin

1994;

Scott

1988).

Stressing

the

extraordinarily

ocial nature of

modern

conomies',

Thriftnd Olds

(1996,

314-16)

argue

that,

n

volatile and

globalizing

economies,

trust nd

reciprocity,

orgedthrough

face-to-face

relational

etworks,

ecome

centrallymportant

o

many

economic

practices.

o

them,

it

s clear thatface-to-facenteraction

as

not

died out.

Indeed,

n

ome ense

t

hasbecomemore

mportant

s

reflexivity

including

n

enhanced

bility

o

ee oneself

as others

ee

us)

has

become

built

nto economic

conduct.ibid.,16)

Finally,

media

commentary

n

the

city

has also

grownrapidly

s

the

popular

mood

about cities

n

many

nations has become less dominated

by

a

sense of

collapse

and

crisis,

and more

open

to

positive

nterpretations

f

change

which stress he

opportunities,

itality

and assets

of urban life

(Jencks

996).

Such a

changing

mood is

increas-

ingly

supported by

evidence of

(at

least

patchy)

urban

revitalization',

he

continuedurbanization

of

many

advanced industrial

nations

and

even

renewed population growth in many once-

declining

ndustrial ities that

had been

given up

as inevitable

cons ofurban

visceration

Parkinson

1994).

Three

strands of

urban

rediscovery

have,

we

would

argue,

been

especially mportant

n

raising

the

profile

of

cities:

the

rediscovery

of

urban

centrality;

he

stress n

cities s

economic

motors

of

national

development;

nd the

growing

ebates

on the

importance

of

'creative

cities',

bringing

together

complex ranges

of

cultural,

learning,

education and information

ilieuxfor

upporting

reflexive

nnovation. t is

necessary

o look at

the

central

rguments

epresented

ithin

hese

trands

if we are

to

understand

he

ways

in which

they

explain

the

apparent

growing

mportance

f

what

might e termedurbanassets'.

Urban

nodes n

global

networks

The first strand of

work,

deriving

from

such

authors

as Saskia

Sassen

(1991, 1994),

Manuel

Castells

(1989)

and

John

Friedman

(1995),

has

sought

to reassess

the

importance

of

large

metropolises

s

key

command nd control entres

within

the

interlocking lobalizing

dynamics

of

financial

markets,

high-level

producer

services

industries,

corporate

headquarters

and other

associated service ndustries

telecommunications,

business

conferences,media,

design

and cultural

industries,

ransport,roperty evelopments,

tc.).

A

recent

urvey

n

Europe,

for

xample,

ound hat

since the

mid-1980s,

therewas no

sign

hat enior ecision

makersn

the

controlnd

ommandectorsf he

uropeanconomy

were

willing

o use the

potential

fnew

elecommuni-

cations

echnologies

o ransferheir

perations

o

more

peripheral

ocations.

uite

he

reverse.

ajor

metro-

politan

reas,

ituatedt the

entre f

ommunications

networksnd

offering

asy

access to

national nd

international

nstitutions,

he

rts,

ulturalnd

media

industries,f nythingecamemore ttractiveo nter-

national

inance

ouses,

orporate

eadquarters

nd

producer

ervice

ompanies.

Parkinson

994,

)

The

key argument

ere

s

that

he

dispersal

of

the

productive

apacity

of transnational

orporations

(TNCs)

over

ncreasingly

lobal

distances

requires

a

parallel

territorial

oncentration f

high-level

headquarters'

functions t

the

apex

of the

global

urban

hierarchy

notably

London,

New

York and

Tokyo)

(Sassen

1991,

1994).

Advances

in

tele-

communications

re

being

used

to enhance the

centrality

f

global

cities

more thanthey rebeing

used to

support

third

wave'-style patial

decen-

tralization

see

Graham

1997). 'Cities

reflect he

economic

ealities f the

21st

century',

rites

Tony

Fitzpatrick

1997,

9),

the

Director f

Ove

Arup:

Remote

working

rom

elf-sufficient

armsteads ia the

Internet

annot

eplace

he

powerhouses

f

personal

interaction hich

drives teamwork nd

creativity.

These rethe

ornerstones

fhow

professional

eople

add value o their ork.

esides,

ou

annotook

nto

someone's

yes

nd see that

hey

re

trustworthy

ver

the nternet.

ibid.)



5/20

414

Ash

Amin nd

Stephen

raham

Trust,

eciprocity,eflexivity

nd the minimization

of

risk

thus fuel

the

explosive growth

of

global

cities.

As Mitchelson nd Wheeler

1994,

88)

argue,

in

times

of

greatuncertainty,

elect cities

cquire

strategicmportance

s

command entres

nd

as

centralizedroducersf thehighestrder conomic

information.

Liberalization f

financialmarkets

nd

the

needs

of TNCs to

manage global

investments ave simi-

larly

underpinned

he

explosion

of

global

financial

centres,

where risk and

volatility

re

managed

through

ntense ocalization.

Cycles

of cumulative

causation

between the concentration

of

TNC

headquarters,high-level

financial

ervices,

other

producer

services

accounting,

dvertising,

nfor-

mation

technology

IT)

and business

consultancy,

etc.) nd thewiderurban ssets specialized abour

markets nd

support

services,

concentrations

f

cultural

nd

'soft'

social

assets,

access

to world-

class

property, ransport

nd telecommunications

infrastructures)

re,

in

turn,

seen to lead to a

growing

centralization

of

high-level

functions

within

global

cities.

Thus international

inancial entres

nd

global

cities

are seen to reassert

heir ocational

power

and

centrality

ecause

they

combine

unmatched

concentrations

f

advanced

support

services

and

infrastructure,

ith

the

highly

eflexive

orkplace

culturessuited to high-levelfinancialand cor-

porate

operations

n a

global

and volatile

world

economy

Thrift

994).

Moreover,

he

intensifica-

tion of electronic

elecommunications

inking

uch

global

cities

seems

to

require

ever-more ntense

webs of face-to-face

o-presence

n

tightly

oncen-

trated rban

districts.

his s because

such

globally

interlinked

T and

telecommunications

ystems

lead

to massive

increases

in flows

of real-time

information,

equiring

skilled

and

convincing

interpretation

n a continuous

asis

(Thrift

996b).

In

contexts

uch

as

the

City

of

London,

the face-to-

face work environment, he personal relations

between

City

nalysts

nd

the

struggle

o

improve

individual

access to

powerful

new

interpretations

of

complex

hange

ll become

crucial,

o maintain-

ing,

or

even

enhancing,

he

centrality

f

global

financial

apitals.

Cities

s national conomicmotors

The secondstrand f research

has

sought

o over-

come

the

notion,

articularly owerful

within

he

USA and the

UK,

that

ities nd

metropolitan

ife

are an economic

iability

pits

into which

public

subsidy

and social

support

must

go

to

prop

up

ailing

nd anachronistic rban reas.

The

assertion,

rather,

s that

rban

conomies re

critically

mpor-

tant motors forsupporting he developmentof

national economies

Jacobs

1984).

To Sclar

(1992,

30),

for

xample,

heeconomic

trength

f a nation

is

'nothing

more

than the sum of

the

economic

strengths

f ts

metropolitan egions'.

This

s a

view that s

filtering

nto

policy

circles.

Typical

here s the book

edited

by Henry

Cisneros

(1993),

ppointedby

the

Clinton

dministration

s

the

ecretary

ftheUS

Department

f

Housing

and

Urban

Development.

n the

ntroduction,

isneros

asserts

hat,

espitebeing nadequately

eflected

n

political

power

structures

nd

debates,

US cities

are the

coreof the

metropolitan

reas which

lay

a

pivotal

role

n

the

national

conomy.hey rovide

work

or

millionsnd

are hehome o

major

rivate

mployers,

the

port

of

entry

or

foreign oods,

capital,

nd

workers,

nd

the

port

of

exit

for

American

oods,

services

nd tourists.

hey

ouse

many

f heworld's

premier

nstitutions

f

ommerce,

ulture,

nd

earning

(ibid.,

1).

He

also draws attention

o

the mounts

f financial

and

physical

apital

sunk

ntourban

reas and

the

facts hatnearly80 per cent of the US population

live in

metropolitan

reas

anchored

by

central

cities and that

such areas

contribute

ver 80

per

cent

of

the

US

jobs.

There re

two sides to this

growing

ssertion f

the

importance

of cities

as national

economic

motors:

he idea of

the

city

as a

knowledge-base

and the

debate

surrounding

he

supposed

resur-

gence

of

agglomeration

conomies,

especially

n

industries

of flexible

pecialization

and

volatile

demand.

The former

Knight

1995;

Knight

and

Gappert

1989;

Ryser

1994)

stresses

that urban

economieshave not so much declinedas under-

gone

a

transformation

ased

on

the

increasingly

central

mportance

f reflexive

nowledge nputs

and

services

nto

contemporary

rban

economies

(through

cience,

ducation,

raining,

nformation

and

business

support

ervices,

nd a

high-quality

cultural

nd

social

milieux').

Here

the

emphasis

s

on

the

qualitative

spects

of urban economies

nd

the

increased dominance

of urban economics

by

symbolic

nd

representational

lows

and

outputs

rather

han

commodity

lows and

outputs

what



6/20

The

ordinary

ity

415

Lash

and

Urry

1994)

term

economies

f

igns

nd

space'). 'Soft', ntangible

factors,

ased

on

tight

propinquity

and close

relational

interweaving

within the

urban

fabric,

re seen as the

central

underpinnings

of

urban

competitiveness

and

creativity, yingcities,in turn, nto globalizing

networks f

productive,

nformational

nd human

exchange.

uch

'soft',

eflexive oncentrations

re,

of

course,

nderpinned y

ntensematerial oncen-

trations

n

the form of

grids

of advanced

tele-

communications

and telematics

infrastructures,

massive

highway

and rail networks

within

cities

and the

physical

environments nd

property

markets

that

help support

concentrated

urban

centrality.

The

implication

f this

perspective

s that eflex-

ive,

knowledge-based

rban

strategies

must

tie in

to theirparticular rbanarenas,so releasing yn-

ergies

between the elements

f

a

city's

knowledge

fabric and the urban built

environment nd

strengthening

he

knowledge

cultures of cities

(Knight

1995)

through

pirals

inking

headquarter

functions,

media,

cultural and

arts

industries,

education and

information

services,

research

and

development,

nd

institutions f

science

and

technology. ity

development

and

planning,

n

this

approach,

needs to be

recast s a

'high

level

collective

earning rocess'

ibid.,

59).

The

second

research trand

attempts

o relate

debates about the shift fromFordism to post-

Fordism to

the

dynamics

of

urban

manufactur-

ing change.

The

argument

here is that

certain

privileged metropolitan

reas,

which offer

the

localization

nd external conomies

most

ppropri-

ate to

support

flexibly rganized

industrialdis-

tricts

of

small,

innovative

firms,

have

managed

to

re-industrialize

uccessfully

since the

1980s

(Storper

996).

The

rich

ransactional

pportunities

of such

cities,

within

the

post-Fordist

ontext f

shifting roduction

mixes

forvolatile

nd

fluctuat-

ing

markets,

has

allowed

districts f

specialist

small firms o engage in continuous nnovation

and

learning

Scott1988).

Once

again,

the

bility

f

cities to

insulate

against

risk

and

uncertainty

nd

to minimize

transactions costs

for a

diverse

range

of

knowledge inputs,

abour

sources and

external

suppliers

underpins

the

dynamism

of

such

key

Marshallian

industrial

districts

Amin

and

Thrift

992;

for

a

review,

ee

Storper

1995).

Indeed,

for

some commentators

e.g. Malmberg

and

Maskell

1996),

the

advantages

of

proximity,

associated

with

he

xchange

f

nformation,

oods

and

services,

nd the

advantages

of

face-to-face

contact,

ssociated with incremental

nnovation,

learning

nd the

exchange

of tacit

knowledge,

re

the assets of

comparative

dvantage

in a

global

context f

increasingly biquitous

formsof

codi-

fied,or scientific,nowledge.Thus localization s

a source of

dynamic earning

hat

reinforces,

nd

is reinforced

y,

the

agglomeration

f firms

n

the

same

industry.

Of

course,

these

localized

'Marshallian'

or

'learning'

ffectsre not

confined

to

cities

but are a feature of areas

of

intense

entrepreneurialgglomeration

urban

and

rural.

However,

he

relevant

oint

here s that hisredis-

covery

fthe

powers

of

agglomeration

s

forcing

reappraisal

of

the

comparative

ssets

of

cities

n

economic

ompetition.

'Creativeities'

The third

trand reasserts

he

importance

f

city

centres

y stressing

ow

urban

culture,

he

media,

entertainment,

port

and education

may,

with

appropriatepolicies,

nterlace

positively

within

framework f

public

space

to

support

the emer-

gence

of

'creative

cities'

(Landry

and Bianchini

1995).

As with the

preceding

position,

he answer

to

economic nd

social crises

within

ities

s seen to

be

through

reative

practice, ocusing

n

projects

of

urban

renewal and lived

experience

hat make

the

most of the

diversity,

ifference

nd

intersec-

tiontraditionallyfferedycities.Certain ities,t

is

argued,

have

experienced

renaissance s

arenas

of

symbolization,

ases for

new,

reflexive orms f

consumption

nd cultural

roduction,

nd sitesfor

intensewebs of

informationnd

communications

flows orientated

round their

night-time

cono-

mies

(Griffiths

995;

Lash

and

Urry

1994).

But the

diagnosis

and the

vision here

also relates

power-

fully

o urban

physical space

and

planning.

This

approach

is

more

normative,

ied in

with

active

policy

and

planning

debates,

specially

n

western

Europe

(see

Bianchini

et

al.

1988;

Montgomery

1995).

Building

on the

ong-standing ritique

f

mod-

ernist

lanning

Jacobs

961),

the

central

ssertion

here is that

ities

can thrive

nly

when

strategies

recognize

hat

'the

defining

haracteristics

f cities

are

high

density,

mixed

use, stimulus,

ransactions

and above

all

diversity'

Montgomery

995,

102).

New

shared

spaces,

new,

mproved

public

realms,

new

mixed-usedurban

landscapes,

new intercul-

tural

interactions nd an urban

time-spacefully

animated

nd enlivenedwith

rich

rray

f

social



7/20

416

AshAmin

nd

Stephen

raham

and cultural

ctivities

re seen to

be the

answer to

the

problems

f

decay,

lienation,

olarization

nd

the

crisis

in

urban

public space

(Bianchini

and

Schwengel

1991;

Worpole

1992).

Density,

ultural

diversity

nd

vitality,

inking

nd

intersecting

he

whole gamut of urban activitieswithina fine-

grained

patial

matrix,

re

seen as

the

key

to urban

renaissance.

Such

a

renaissance s

alleged

to

be

underway

already

in

cities across

Europe

as a

result f the

growing ecognition

f the

benefits f

metropolitan

iving

nd culture

y

west

Europeans

and

because of the

success of

strategies

imed at

promoting

ities

especially ity

entres)

with

high-

density

development

generating

ntense stimulii

and concentrated

transactions

amongst

and

between

diverseuses.

Problems

of

synecdoche

n

the new

urbanism

These strands f what we term he

rediscovery'

f

cities

together

eassert he role of

city

assets

in

contemporary

lobal change

nd,

n

so

doing,

raise

considerable

hope

for

revitalizing

urban

areas

through

which

so much of

human life

is now

conducted. But how do we reconcile his

utopia,

likely

o be

extended o

all

cities nd

their

artsby

urban policy-makers nd boosterists,with the

variegated,

fragmented

nd incoherent ature of

contemporary

rban life? The

three

strands

are

derived from

eadings

of

particular

ities or

par-

ticular

parts

of cities.

They

offer

pecific erspec-

tives and

partial representations

n

the

vast,

multi-dimensional

ange

of

processes

of urban

change

currently nderway.

Each

of the

perspec-

tives

tresses ts

particular

ecipe

f

ingredients'

s

centralto

the

'new urbanism';

each thus asserts

the

primacy

of certain

ocial, cultural,

conomic,

physical,

nvironmental

r

institutional

ynamics

within ontemporaryrban ife.Key interconnec-

tions

within

and between cities are

inevitably

privileged

whilst

others

never make

it

into the

theorist's r

practitioner's

nalysis

at all. As

Nigel

Thrift nd Kris Olds

(1996,

312)

put

it

in their

commentary

n

economic

geography,

hese

trands

of

urban

discovery

illustrate

he

xtraordinaryifficulty

f

eparating

ut

something

alledthe conomic'romthe ocial'

r

he

'cultural'r the

political'

r the exual' rwhathave

you.

The new

urbanism,

herefore,

oses analytical

problems

in

trying

to

understand

'wholeness'

within

he

ontemporary

rban,

n

dentifying

ow

the

urban

varies between

differentities and in

thinking

bout what

'urban

assets' mean for

the

way we currentlyonceptualize he urban'. In a

review

of

recent

heorizations f the

city,

Michael

Storper

1995,

28)

argues

that

many

fthe

entral

spects

f

ontemporary

rbaniz-

ation

receive ttention

in

current

rban

heory]:

he

service

ndustries,

nd

especially

inancialervicesnd

advanced usiness

ervices;

lows f

nformation,

nd

the

development

f

technologies

hat

make them

possible;

he

ocation

f

big,

multilocational

irms;

he

flows f

capital,

nowledge,

nd

goods

dministered

by

those

irms;

hefinancializationf

capitalism.

ut

none

f

he

global-duality,

orld

ity,

nformational

cityor post-Fordist,lexibleity] heories eviewed

seems o

put

hese

henomena

ogether

n

way

which

effectively

ccounts or heir ole

n

urbanization.

Two

problems

f

synecodoche,

lso

highlighted

recentlyby Nigel

Thrift

1996a),

might

lie at

the

source of these

problems:

he

methodological

dangers

of

overgeneralizing

rom one or a

few

examples

and the

danger

of

overemphasizing

particular spaces,

senses of

time

and

partial

representations

ithin he

city.

Turning

o

the first

roblem,

n inevitable ut-

come

of the

rediscovery

f the

city

within

o

many

research trands nddiscourseshas been the leva-

tion

of

ingle

or small

groups

of

urban

xamples

to

be

paradigmatic;

hat

s,

to offer

pparent

essons

for ll otherurban

areas.

Recently,

he notion

hat

'it

all comes

together

n

Los

Angeles' (City

1996;

Soja

1989)

has been most influential.

ut

each

of

the

bove

strands

f

workhas

proffered

ts

own set

of

paradigmatic xamples.

The new

examples

of

urban

centrality

n

global

networks

are almost

always

the three

global

financial

entres

London,

New York

nd

Tokyo)plus

second-tier

lobal

cities

like Paris and

Hong

Kong

(Knox

and

Taylor

995).

The stresson citiesas nationaleconomic motors

has

focused

attention n the innovative urban

industrial istricts

urrounding

os

Angeles

film

and television

n

Hollywood,

women's

clothing

n

Los

Angeles,

T in

Orange County,

tc.)

and those

developing

n the

third

taly'

(see

Storper

1995).

The creative itiesdebate

has focusedon

cities,

r

parts

of

cities,

with

especially

dramatic

trategies

and

apparently

uccessful

ransformations,

uch as

Curitiba

n

Brazil,

Barcelona

n

Spain

and Covent

Garden n London

(see

Griffiths

995).



8/20

The

ordinary

ity

417

The

problem

with

paradigmatic

xamples

s

that

analysis

inevitably

ends to

generalize

from

very

specific

cities,

both in

identifying

he

changing

nature

f urban

assets and

highlighting

ormative

suggestions

or

policy

nnovation

lsewhere.

What

should be a debate on varietyand specificity

quickly

reduces to

the

assumption

that

some

degree

of

nterurban

omogeneity

an be

assumed,

either

n

the

nature

of the

sectors

eading

urban

transformationr

n

the

processes

furban

change.

The

exception, y

a

process

of

reduction r totaliz-

ing,

becomes

the

norm,

applicable

to the

vast

majority

f what

might

be called

'unexceptional'

cities:

hat

s,

cities

which cannotbe

demonstrated

to

have

attained new

centrality,

o be

arenas of

flexible

specialization

and

industrial

districts

growth,

r to be

identifiably

creative'.

f

it

'all

comes together'n Los Angeles, he mplications

that all

cities are

experiencing

he

trends

dentifi-

able

in

Los

Angeles

and

thatwe

do not

really

need

to

understand

hese

processes.

The

second

problem

f

generalization

s the

risk

of

focusing

oo

much on

single,

solated

paces,

on

specific

enses of

time nd on

particular

epresen-

tationswithin

ities.

nevitably,

ector-specific

nd

place-specific

trandsof

researchmake it

difficult

to build

an

understanding

of what

Dematteis

(1988)

calls the

'multiple spaces'

that

become

relationally

constructed,

nterlinked nd

super-

imposed within extending urban' regions (see

Healey

et al.

1995).

Certain

enses of

space-time'

tend to

become

privileged

from he

whole

gamut

of

urban

life.

Thrift

1996b)

notes

similarly

hat

contemporary

ities

display

the kind

of

variegated

senses of

time

-

from he

intense

nstantaneity

f

the

financial

markets o

the new

urban

mythology

and

new-age

religions

as the

eighteenth-century

city.

And

Rob

Shields

(1995,

245)

reminds

us that

when we

analyse

the

city',

ur

depiction

s itself

representation,

partial

perspective

with

treacher-

ous

selective

vision'

which,

in

turn,

becomes

embroiled n thesocial production f the urban'.

So

much is

this the

case that

one

might

rgue,

as

Charles

Jencks

1996,

26)

does,

that

virtually

ll

theories

bout

he

ity

re

true,

specially

contradictory

nes.

The

ity

works

oth

s a

mediaeval

village

with

he

quivalent

f

13th

entury

nhabitants

pottering

bout,

nd a

global

network f

24

hour

traders.

Thus,

n

addressing

heir

key

sectors',

ites

and

processes,

he

trands f

thenew

urban

utopia

tend

to lead

from

aradigmatic

xamples

which

are

not

whole

citiesbut

specific

time-space'

samples

of

cities. Each

offers ts own

partial

and

specific

representations

f the

city

or the

'urban'

-

the

'yuppy'

spaces

of

power

and

centrality

or

the

global financialcentres, he high-tech ntrepre-

neurial

spaces

of industrial

districts

nd

tech-

nopoles,

the

flaneur-like

rban

strolling

of

the

advocates

of urban

creativity.

oo

often,

y

totaliz-

ing

from

pecific

pace-times

nd

contingent

epre-

sentations,

uch references

o the

'city'

tend

to

abstract

specific

urban

sites from

their

broader

interrelationship

ithin

arger

metropolitan

reas.

One

consequence

is the

failureto

capture

the

changing

relationships

etween

ntraurban

reas,

which

hould,

rguably,

e ofcentral

oncern

iven

the more

general

observation

hat ities end

to

be

splinteringnd fragmentingnto cellular zones,

extended

over

larger egions,

nd

geared

towards

specific

uses

whilst

excluding

others.2

t

thus

becomes

problematic

o

understand

the

ways

in

which

sites

of

strategic

entrality

nd

exchange

relateto areas

of

high-tech'

nnovation

nd

tech-

nopolis

development

Castells

nd

Hall

1994);

how

the cultural

nd

social

diversity

nd webs

of

city

centres

nterrelate

ith

housing

reas and

ghettos;

how

processes

of

mobility

nd

electronic

nter-

connection

through

telecommunications

weave

webs

through

hese

multiple

paces

and

tie

them

into wider systems of communications, rans-

actions

and information

low.

And,

without

this

understanding

fthe

ways

n which he

time-space

'bits'

of cities

do or do not

nterconnect,

t

becomes

difficult

o

develop

an

understanding

f the

wider

constitution

r

fragmentation

f

an urban

asset

base.

It also becomes

difficult

o

capture

what

the

'urban'

means

as a

superimposed

omplex

of

rela-

tional

webs,

a

complex

of

culturally pecific

epre-

sentations

Shields

1995)

and

as a

place

for

the

interconnections

f diverse

circuits

inking

nfra-

structure,

xchange,

nstitutionsnd

the

materially

and socially ivedworld.

The

multiplex

ity

We

would

argue

that

the

dominance

of

partial

interpretations

oncentrating

on

paradigmatic

examples,

or

specific

time-space

'samples',

is

making

t

increasingly roblematic

o hold

sight

of

the idea

of the

urban

as the

co-presence

of

multiple

paces,

multiple

imes nd

multiple

webs



9/20

418

AshAmin

nd

Stephen

raham

of

relations,

ying

ocal

sites,

subjects

and

frag-

ments into

globalizing

networks

of

economic,

social

and

cultural

change

(Dematteis

1988).

In

criticizing

artial

representations

n

urban

theory,

Rob

Shields

1995,

245)

has

argued

that

we need to constructmulti-dimensional

nalyses

which,

ather han

mposingmonological

oherence

and

closure,

llow

parallel

nd

conflictingepresen-

tationso coexistn

analysis.

We would

agree

that the

city'

now needs

to be

considered

s

a

set of

spaces

wherediverse

ranges

of

relational webs

coalesce,

interconnect nd

fragment.

The

contemporary ity

is a

variegated

and

multiplex

ntity

a

juxtaposition

f

contradictions

and

diversities,

he

theatre f ife tself.

he

city

s

not a unitary rhomogeneous ntitynd perhaps

it

neverhas been. t s

both

Engels'

1845,

reprinted

in

LeGates and

Stour

1996,

48)

site of

barbarous

indifference,

ard

egotism

on the one

hand,

and

nameless

misery

on the

other' and Lewis

Mumford's

1937,

reprinted

n

LeGates and Stout

1996,

85) collection

f

primary roups

nd

purpos-

ive

associations

..

an

aesthetic

ymbol

f

collective

unity'

that fosters

personal disintegration

nd

reintegration hrough

wider

participation

n

a

concrete nd visible

collective

whole'.

This

perspective

s closer to the

tradition,

niti-

atedbyLouisWirthnd later ekindled yRichard

Sennett

1970),

stressing

he essential

contradic-

tions

associated

with dense urban ife:

guarantee-

ing

anonymity

to individuals

(see,

especially,

Wilson

1991)

but

also

making

hemmore

anomic;

providing

visual

contact

but

lessening

social

contact;

glaringly ontrasting qualor

and

splen-

dour,

riches

and

poverty

see,

for

example,

Mike

Davis 1990 on Los

Angeles);

and

juxtaposing

ndi-

viduals withno sentimental r emotional ies with

associations

f

community

nd alliances of fate'.

The

multiplexity

f urban ife

uggested

by

this

perspective eeds to be taken eriously ycontem-

porary

urban research.

At

least four nterwoven

dimensionsof

multiplexity

eed

proper recogni-

tion

n

orderto overcome

he risksof

resorting

o

totalizing aradigmatic xamples

nd

overgeneral-

izing

from

arrow,

artialperspectives.

s a

result,

it

may

become

possible

to reassert

he

mportance

ofthenotion hat he

urban'

s both concentrated

complex

nd a

process

of

diverse relationalwebs.

First,

he

city

can

be seen as a nexus between

relational

proximity

n

a world of fastflows

and

what Paul

Adams

1995,

79)

has

called

time-space

extensibility',hrough

which

social,

economic nd

cultural elations ecome

stretched' ver

increas-

ingly

distant

(and distantiated)

links via the

operation

of

technical networks

primarily

ele-

communications and transportation nfrastruc-

tures).

We

would

argue

that

he

spatial

essence

of

urbanity

ies

in

recursivecombinations f what

Boden

and

Molotch

1994,

259)

called the

thick-

ness

of

copresent

nteraction',

here ntense

face-

to-face nteractions

ithin

rban

pace

coexist

with

mediatedflows

of

communication

nd

contact ia

technicalmedia to the

broader

city

and

beyond

(see

Thrift

996b).

The

complex nterlinkage

etween

place-based

relationalwebs

and distantiated nes is a

central

concernto both

contemporary

rban

theory

nd

policypractice. here reclearly iteswhereurban

propinquity

oes still matter the

financialdis-

tricts,

he

cultural

zones,

the

industrial

districts.

But,

ncreasingly,

here re also zones where

frag-

mentation nd

splintering

etween

adjacent

units

can

be the

norm as

exchange

and

interchange

becomes

disembedded

from he mmediate ocale

through

ast

ransport

nd advanced

telecommuni-

cations

ystems

Giddens 1990).

Areas existwhere

neighbours

may

not know

each

other nd tend to

relate

through

telematics

nd

automobiles

with

friends,

relatives and entertainment

ources

stretchedcrossthecity nd furtherfield.Adja-

cent

firms

n

many

new business

parks

-

most

notably

back-offices

may

have few

nterlinkages

whilst

each

remains

trongly

ied

in with

distant

circuits

of

corporate,global exchange.

And the

exchange

of

cultural

ymbolization

nd

products

in

many

housing

reas

may

be as

much

technically

mediated as

operantthrough

ace-to-facenterac-

tions

n

urban

places,

as

satellite,

igital

nd

cable

TV,

he nternetnd other ommunications

ystems

support disembedding

fromthe local.

Thus the

'extensibility'

f

nterpersonal

onnections

in

the

economyand through ocial interaction,nd cul-

tural

exchange

-

'both

in

place

and out of

place'

(Adams

1995,

279)

-

makes the

city

much more

than the arena of

place-bound

or

place-mediated

relationships.

The

mportant oint

for ur

purposes

s that his

complex interweaving

f

place-based

and wider

relational

webs,

and the

ways

in

which

they

bring

together

or

do

not,

as

the

case

may

be)

the

multiplex pace-times

fthe

city,

as tended to be

ignored y

the iterature n urban

rediscovery'.

n



10/20

The

ordinaryity

419

particular,

he

balance

n a

city

etween

ntegration

and

fragmentation,

nd the

mpact

of this

balance

on

economic

success,

s

insufficiently

onsidered.

We would

suggest

hat he

nature

f the

balance

s

likely

o be

critical

n

assessing

urban

creativity,

he

propensity f citiesto innovate and the complex

interactions etween economic

'competitiveness'

and

social

cohesion'.

Secondly,

nd

following

from

this,

we would

stress

he

unique

place density

nd boundedness

ofthe

city,

erhaps

ven

as

a

source

of

comparative

advantage

in

a world of

ubiquity

and incessant

global

flow.

Underlying

ll three

nterpretations

f

the new

urbanism s the

emphasis

that

uccessful

relational

proximity

tends to

be concentrated

within

dense

clusters,

quarters

and

districts f

knowledge

and

knowledgeable people,

within

agglomerations f specialized firms, r withina

critical mass of cultural

creativity.

n

addition,

there is a

common

perception

that absolute

advantage

often erives from set of

mmobile

r

non-tradeable

factors,

notably

tacit

knowledge,

informal r

face-to-face

ontact and relationsof

reciprocity

nd trust.

This raises the

key

question

of the

relationship

between

dense,

creative nodes within

cities and

wider

urban

spaces.

One

way

of

reconciling

he

two

perspectives

would be to

argue

that

places

of

dense

creativity,

nnovation,

learning

and

reciprocityre slands within heirmultiplex rban

contexts

insulated,

geographically

nd

socially,

from

verything

lse

that

urrounds

hem.

t

seems

to

be

the

case

that

lusters

f

creativity

end to be

confinedto

particular

parts

of the

city,

uch

as

inner-city

ndustrial

istricts,

ultural

omplexes

r

central

business

districts. uch an

interpretation

lends

support

o the normative

esire of observers

as

differents

Jane Jacobs

and

Lewis

Mumford,

that

the

city

be

composed

of

clearly

defined

boundaries,

ike

many villages

Wilson

1995).

The

idea of

enclaves

may

help

us to

explain

why,

for

example,

Los

Angeles

is, at once, a

city

both of

vast

economic

dynamism

nd

devastating

ocial

blight:

the

economically

ctive and the

poor

are

simply

kept

apart.

But

this is

only

a

partially

correct

iew,

not

east

because the clusters

f

pros-

perity

re

not hermetic

nclaves,

uncontaminated'

by

the

outside. Cultural

and

creative

districts,

or

example,

draw

centrally

n the

cross-fertilization

of

in-here nd out-there

nfluences,

ot least in

order to

satisfy

he

exotic desires of the

sought-

after

professionals

nd

experts

who make

high

demands on their

proximate

physical

and

social

environment.

The thirddimension

of

the

multiplex

ity,

ong

recognized

n

urban

research,

s the

mportance

f

urban

heterogeneity.

With

the

easy

separation

between he social', political',cultural' nd econ-

omic'

becoming

moreand more

problematic,

we

must

clearly

mphasize

the

ways

inwhich

contem-

porary

ities end

to be concentrationsf

multiple

rationalities,

ultiple

ocio-spatial

ircuits,

iverse

complexes

of

cultural

hybridity

nd the

interlink-

age

of

complex

ranges

of

subjectivities

nd

time-

spaces.

Such

heterogeneities

re

central o the

new

urbanism

nd

are,

s we

argue

ater,

ssential o

the

dynamics

of the

contemporary

urban'. These

are,

simultaneously,

ources

of economic

dynamism

and

cultural

innovation,

and

pointers

to

new

notions of urban governanceand institutional

innovation.

Two

recent, interlinked,

dvances

in

social

theory

dd

significant

heoretical

upport

to

our

emphasis

on

urban

heterogeneity

ithin he

multi-

plex

city.

n

so

doing,they

work to

undermine

he

very

dea that

we

can

simply

and

unproblemati-

cally

generalize

the

'city'.

First,

elational

rather

than absolute theories

of

time-space

re

rapidly

gaining

nfluence

n

geography

nd urban studies

(Harvey

1996;

Thrift

996a).

The

unthinking

ccept-

ance

withinurbanstudies that ime

and

space

act

simply s objective, nvariant, xternal ontainers

for the urban

scene is now

collapsing.

Harvey

(1996)

draws on

Whitehead's

relational heories o

suggest

that the

heterogeneous

xperience

and

constructionf timewithin

ities

s a real

phenom-

enon.

'Multiple processes',

he

writes,

generate

multiple

real

as

opposed

to

Leibniz's ideal

differ-

entiation

n

spatio-temporalities'

ibid., 59,

origi-

nal

emphasis).

Crucially

for

the notion of the

multiplex

ity,

t

is

'cogredience'

or

'the

way

in

which

multiple processes

flow

together

o

con-

struct

single

consistent, oherent,

hough

multi-

faceted

ime-space

ystem'

ibid., 60-1) that s the

key

concern.

he urban

becomes n

embedded and

heterogeneous

ange

of

time-spaceprocesses;

the

multiplex

ity,

y mplication,

cannotbe examined

independently

f the

diverse

spatio-temporalities

such

processes

contain'

(ibid.,

263-4).

Similarly,

drawing

on

his

long-standing

ork

on

time

geog-

raphy

(Thrift

t

al.

1978),

Nigel

Thrift

1996a,

2)

asserts hat

time s a

multiple henomenon;

many

times are

working

hemselves ut

simultaneously

in

resonant

nteraction

ith

each

other'.



11/20

420

Ash

Amin nd

Stephen

raham

Secondly,

new

theoretical

onceptions

f

space

and

place,

nfluenced

y

the

ctor-networkheories

of

Michael

Callon

(1986,

1991)

and

Bruno Latour

(1993),

stress the need

for

fully contingent

nd

relational

pproaches

o

social

ordering'

nd to the

configurationftechnical rtefactsBingham 996;

Hinchliffe

996;

Murdoch,

forthcoming). key

motivation ere s to

attack he essentialist

echno-

logical

determinism f writers

such as

Virilio,

Sorkin and

the new

cyberspace

gurus

such

as

Negroponte

1995).

Absolute

paces

and times re

meaningless

here.

Agency

is

a

purely

relational

process.

Technologies

have

contingent,

and

diverse,

ffects

nlythrough

he

ways they

ecome

linked

into

specific

social

contexts

by

human

agency.

n

this

perspective,

ocial

ordering

ccurs

through

he

complex

efforts f both humans

and

non-humans o engage otheractorsthrough er-

formative

ctions

hat

re

fundamentally eteroge-

neous and

impossible

o

generalize

Thrift 996a).

'Agency'

is

defined as

a

'precarious,

ontingent

effect,

chieved

only by

continuous

performance

and

only

for

the

duration of

that

performance'

(Bingham

996,

47).

Such a view

underlines orce-

fully

hat,

ather han

simplybeing impacted' by

new

technologies, living, breathing,corporeal

human

beings,

rrayed

n

various

reativelympro-

vised networks f relation till exist as

something

more than

machine

fodder'

Thrift

996b,

466).

Such theories would support our view that

multiplex

cities

are thus

complex performative

arenas whererelationalwebs weave

layers

forder

between

heterogeneous

ocial

groups,

filieres

f

firms,

governance

agencies,

etc.

But

such

an

emphasis

on

contingent

nd

heterogeneous

ocial

practices

hallenges

the

very

dea

that

generaliz-

ation

can be made about what the

city'

s. It

also

supports

relational

perspectives

of the hetero-

geneity

of

space-time.

Thus

Nigel

Thrift

ibid.,

1485)

stresses

thehybridutcome fmultiple rocesses f social

configuration,

rocesses

hich

re

pecific

o

particular

differentially

xtensive ctor-networks

made

up

of

people

and

things olding

ach other

ogether)

nd

generate

heir

wn

space

and own

times,

hich

will

sometimes,

nd sometimes

ot,

be coincident.

here

s,

in

other

ords,

o

bigpicture

f he

modern

ity

o

be

had but

nly

set

of

onstantlyvolving

ketches.

The focus on the

heterogeneousways

in

which

social

'ordering'

occurs

for human actors within

the

multiplex

ity

allows

due

recognition

f the

stark

differentiationf the

time-space pportuni-

ties

of different

ocial

groups.

For

the diverse

time-space

rdering

f

the

city

means that

social

actors

and

groups

have

very

different

bilities

o

engage

in

actor-networks hat allow

personal

extensibility nd so extend their time-spaces

beyond

their

immediate

corporeal

environment

(Dear

1995;

Graham and Marvin

1996).

Thrift

(1995),

for

xample,

ontrasts

he

global

time-space

extensibility

f the

electronic ecurities

traders

(with

their

high-band

telecommunications

et-

works,

their

relentless

global

travel and their

critical ole

n

shaping

global

urban

systems)

with

the network

hettos'

r 'off ine

spaces'

(Graham

and

Aurigi

1997)

where few

telecommunications

penetrate.

ere,

the

space

of flows

omes

to a full

stop.

Time-space ompression

means time o

spare

and thespace togo nowhere' Thrift995,31).

The fourth nd final

dimension f the

multiplex

city

hatwe

would stress

s

the

concentrated

nd

complex

institutional

ase

within

cities.

Largely

ignored

by

the

research

n

global

cities,

we would

argue

that he

growing

ocial

complexity

f

urban

governance

s a

critical

aspect

of the

changing

urban asset base within a

globalizing society

(Judge

et al.

1995).

Formal,

hierarchical

urban

government

ives

way

to more

complex

webs

of

urban

governance

nd,

as

such,

onsiderably

aises

the

potential

f

cities

s the

site

of

a

large

number

and varietyof institutions.ndeed, debates in

urban

politics,

specially

he

ncreasingly

nfluen-

tial

discussions

of urban

regime theory

Stoker

1995),

are

beginning

o stress

the

complex

inter-

dependencies

between formal

government

nd

wider

ranges

of

governance

(public, private,

voluntary

nd

hybrids)

n

cities.

Some

argue

that

these shifts

mprove

the

potential

for

nteractive,

cooperative

tyles

of

governance

which are more

decentralized nd

more

n

keeping

with the com-

plex

demands of

social

innovation

within

ontem-

porary

ities

Mayer

1995).

Whilstwe

will

return

o

issues ofurbangovernance n more detail in the

next

section,

we

would assert

here

the

crucial

importance

of

decentred,

ntegrative

nd

inter-

active

governance styles

within the

broader

dynamics

f

the

multiplex

ity

Amin

nd

Hausner

1997;

Healey

1995).

Understanding

he

interrelationships

etween

these

four imensions

would,

we

argue,

help

urban

research o overcome

he imits f

partialperspec-

tives

nd

its

tendency

o

rely

n

paradigmatic

ases.

It

would

enable more ubtle

perspectives

n

urban



12/20

The

ordinary

ity

421

multiplicity

tressing

he nterconnections

etween

the

complex

time-space

ircuits

nd dimensions f

urban

ife,

s

well as the

diversity

nd

contingency

of the

urban world.

And it

might

help

us to

improve

ur

understanding

fthecircumstances

n

whichthedifferencesnd tensions f themultiplex

city

nourish

r,

t the

very

east,

do notundermine

city

assets of the sort

emphasized

earlier.Thus

urbanresearch

may

be enabled to

analyse

thecom-

plex,

virtuous

spirals

of

growth

nd the

circum-

stances

in

which

the

time-space

ircuits

f cities

uncoil

n

spirals

of decline

so

threatening

he

sites

of

growth

nd

creativity.

uch a

perspectivemight,

therefore,

elp

inform

considerations

of

urban

policy

and

planning,

s well as

broader debates

about

the

omplex

ensions

inking

rban

conomic

'competitiveness'

nd

urban

social cohension'.

In the next ection,we move in such directions

by speculating

on

the

factors

hat allow virtuous

synergies

nd

connectivities

o

be sustained

within

contemporary

ities.Our

thesis s thatone central

factor

may

be the

existence

f

projects

r senses

of

social cohesion which

serve to

provide

a

genuine

sense of

collectivity

nd

belonging

across

the

social

and

spatial

divides

in

a

city.

This we

propose against

he dea that

reativity

temsfrom

the

anarchy

of urban

diversity

nd

conflict

i.e.

the

properties

f

the

melting ot),

or from

rojects

which seek to

hegemonize

particular

social

agendas over a city.

The

just city

We

strongly gree

with

Sharon

Zukin

(1995)

and

other

critical

eadings

of the culture f

cities

that

the

consumption-based

turn in

contemporary

urban

policy

does not

provide

the sort of

'glue'

or

commonality

hat

produces

virtuous

pirals

of

growth

and

dynamism.

At

worst,

efforts o

embellish

ublic spaces

conceal a

design

to

reclaim

them for

social

groups

possessing

economic

value as consumersor

producers

nd to exclude

the less well-off nd the

hawkers of street

ife.

Indeed,

Elizabeth

Wilson

(1995,

158)

sees the

politics

f

this ocial

ghettoization

f

public

spaces

as

part

of a subtle

undercurrent

n

which invisi-

bility

s a crucial

feature f modern

inequality'.

At

best,

the

supposedly

more nclusive

pectacle-

based

city projects,

such

as

glamorous

public

works,festivals,

xhibitions,

themed'

commercial

spaces

(Gottdeiner

1997)

and

large

reclamation

projects,

end to

provideonly

a

temporary

llusion

of

urban

unity

nd

a

populist

ense of

place. They

are

generally

he

products

f

narrow rban

growth

coalitions

r urban

regimes,

made

up

of

architects,

planners,building

and financial

peculators,

nd

big

corporate

nterests,

or whom

urban

unity

s

primarily matterof paperingover real urban

social

problems

nd

divisions,

o

that

nvestment,

the

expert

lasses

and consumer

expenditure

an

return o the

city

Judge

t al.

1995).

Concentrating,

s much

ofthe iterature

oes,

on

the

cultural

experience

of new consumer

spaces

can

often

gnore

he

arger

ocial contexts

n which

they

are

produced

and

the

strengthened

ocio-

spatial segregation,

ocial control

nd surveillance

with

which

they

are often ssociated.

An inter-

active focus

on the

phenomenology

f environ-

mental

experience

in

consumer

spaces',

writes

Mark Gottdeiner1997,134), can overlook heway

these

places

filter

eople

according

o the

patterns

of

class, race,

and

gender segregation'.

Christine

Boyer

1995,

1996)

has extended

this

argument

o

a

macro-scale

view of urban

spatial

and

social

restructuring.

he

suggests

that economic

and

welfare

restructuring

nd

planning practices

re

forcing

yper-polarization

n

large

US cities. She

argues

thatwhat she

calls

the

figured ity' Boyer

1995,

82)

-

the

grids

of

isolated,

mageable,

care-

fullydesigned

and

controlled

onsumption

odes

foraffluent

roups

-

now

overlay

the

disfigured

city' - the neglected,unimageable, interstitial

spaces

for he

poor.

Design

and

planning, ransport

and

telematics

nfrastructures,

egressive ystems

of urban

politics

and taxation nd intensive ur-

veillance

systems

work

to

keep

the two

utterly

segregated.

o

Boyer

ibid., 05),

a

strange

ense

f

urbanismow

nvades he

ity,

ull

of

nconsistencies,

ractures

nd voids.

Homogenized

zones

valued

nd

protected

or heir

rchitectural

nd

scenographic

ffectsre

juxtaposed

nd

played

off

against

reas f

uperdevelopment,

hilemonumental

architecture

ontainersave turned he urban

treet

inward ndestablishedheirwn etof

public paces

and

services

within

rivatizedayers

f

shops,

es-

taurants,

fficesnd

condominiums.

n

between

o

the

back

nd

beyond,

ie

the reas

f

he

ity

eft o

decay

and to

decline,

ntil

he

day

when

hey

oo

will

be

recycled

nd

redesigned

or

ew

conomic

nd

ultural

uses.

There s no real urban

equity

or

unity

here,

nly

the totalization f one

particular

urban rhetoric

(Beauregard

1996).

As

John

Lovering

1995,

119)

observes,

his



13/20

422

AshAmin nd

Stephen

raham

reconstruction

rombove f ocal conomic

itizenship

is

shaped by

the

patronage

f the new

regulators,

ratherhan

y

universalistic

orms

mbodied

n tradi-

tional emocratic

rocesses.

There s no

attempt

o use difference

s a source

of

urban renewal,nor is thereany regardforthe

possibility

f

creativity

n

diversity.

Public

paces,

rban

itizenship

nd economic

creativity

What

are the sources

of

creativity

n

diversity?

How can

they

hallenge

n

interpretation

f

urban

multiplexity

s social

and

economic

degeneration?

One

simple

but

mportant

ource

for haron

Zukin

(1995,

42)

is what she describes

as

the

'civility,

security,

act,

nd

trust'

hat

s to be found

n

cities

in

which the

public

arena

-

in whatever

hape

or

form - remains a theatrefor

'mingling

with

strangers'.

he

effect

s the evolution

of a shared

citizenship

across the

urban

spectrum

-

class,

gender,

ethnic and

sexual

-

constructed

round

the

everyday

social

confidence

hat

comes

from

individuals

and

communities

making

use of the

right

f

access

to a

public

space

shared

withothers.

For

Zukin,

it

is

everyday

street-life,

n

bazaars,

ordinary

hopping

streets,

markets,

afes

and

so

on

that s

the

mainspring

f such

a shared

public

culture,

not

the new

temples

of consumerism

r

privilege,

because

it is

at this

level of

everyday

social

practices

hat ocial

vitality

nd cultures

f

socialization,

alk,

negotiation

nd

understandings

are

produced.

Public

spaces,

thus

defined,

are the

primary

ites

f

public

ulture;

hey

re

the

window nto

city's

oul

.. Public

paces

re

mport-

ant because

hey

re

places

where

trangers

ingle

freely

..

As

both ite

nd

sight,

meeting

lace

and

social

taging

round,

ublic

paces

nable

s to con-

ceptualize

nd

represent

he

ity

tomake

n

deology

of ts

receptivity

o

strangers,

olerance

f

difference,

and

opportunities

o enter

fully

ocialized

ife,

oth

civic

nd commercial.

ibid.,

60)

The difference

etween

public

spaces

as

a

source

of threat

nd

fear,

nd

public

spaces

as

an arena

of

active

civic

life rests

to a considerable

degree

on

whether

they,

nd

the

general

urban

social

and

political

milieu

enveloping

them,

are

spaces

of

social

interaction.

s

shared

spaces,

they

an

play

an

important

ole

in

helping

to

develop

a civic

culture

hat ombines

he elf-belief

nd

autonomy

rooted

in the

widespread practice

of

citizenship

rights

with

the

potential

or

olerance

nd cultural

exchange

offered

y

mingling

with

strangers.

ur

interpretation

f civic culture

hould,

to be

sure,

not

be

confused

with

the moral and

normative

demands

made

by

contemporary

ommunitarians3

who

envisage

renewal

through

he

inculcation

enforced r otherwise of a civicvirtuegrounded

in

good

and

responsible

ocial

behaviour.

Apart

fromnot

sharing

theirmoral

constructivism,

e

remain unconvinced

that

good

and

responsible

citizenship'

s a source

of urban renewal:

t

might

produce

ompliance

nd

help

to cut

down the osts

of anti-social

ehaviour

ut ts

inks

with

reativity

are,

at

best,

tenuous.

Instead,

the

dialectic

of social

interaction

nd

cultural confrontation

n shared

spaces

is a

potential

ource

of

innovation nd

creativity.

or

example,

contemporary

volutionary

nd institu-

tionalist iteraturen economic nnovationmakes

much

oftherole

of trust nd

reciprocity

s a source

of

dynamic

learning

and innovation

within the

business

community.

he bas

the ordinary city. ash amin, stephen graham. 1997

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